Accounting & Finance, For Startups

Clean Books. Strategic Guidance. Industry Specific. Born out of a VC fund, we are the startup accounting firm most founders & operators rely on for quality bookkeeping, Fractional CFO & tax.

Trusted by hundreds of growing startups, including:

A Finance Department as a Service For Startups

We deeply understand the needs and nuances of growing startups and small businesses. Since 2016, we’ve provided hundreds of growing companies a dedicated team of experienced startup accountants and CFOs who serve as their complete or supporting in-house accounting & finance department. We are your one-stop-shop for all things outsourced accounting, finance and tax.

Startup Accounting Services

Fully managed startup accounting & bookkeeping, handled by industry specific Accountants, Controllers & CFOs who understand your business.

 Financial Modeling & CFO

Our Fractional CFOs & startup accountants help you develop financial models, understand unit economics, fundraise, & execute long-term strategic plans.

Tax & Compliance

All of your startup’s tax compliance & filings, fully managed by us. We handle it all: corporate tax filings, sales tax, R&D credits and more.

🔥 Startup Program: Special pricing available for early-stage startups. Apply →

I’m a

Startup

and I need help managing my accounting

Learn about the

Industries

we support & types of companies we work with

Industry specific CFOs & startup accountants that help you scale

We are you partner from seed through exit. From startup accounting & bookkeeping to financial modeling to tax filings and more, we are your full finance department. Because of our roots in VC, we understand the needs and nuances of growing startups.

Industries:

SaaS & Tech

We were born out of a tech-focused venture fund, and we have a deep expertise in SaaS accounting.

Learn More →

CPG & eComm

We have a deep expertise in eCommerce, DTC & CPG finance, from bookkeeping to inventory management to LTV/CAC analysis and more.

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HealthTech & Healthcare

We specialize in helping growing HealthTech and Healthcare startups with their financial operations.

More About Our Services →

Agencies

The best agencies rely on Graphite for bookkeeping, client invoicing, project profit analysis & more.

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Biotech

We’ve supported many growing Biotech startups, fully managing their financial operations.

More About Our Services →

Small & Growing Businesses

We fully manage your bookkeeping, financial statements, tax filings and more!

More About Our Services →

Other Startups

We work with startups of all shapes, sizes and funding levels. From bookkeeping to tax to CFO and more.

More About Our Services →

Services

Fractional CFO

Full strategic support, from cash flow to fundraising to scenario planning and more.

Bookkeeping & Month End Close

Fully managed, always on support. Never worry about startup accounting again.

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Tax Filings & Credits

Fully managed in-house tax compliance and filing support.

Tech Stack Setup

We will help you set up a startup accounting tech stack that is built to scale.

Financial Modeling & Planning

We fully manage your financial planning and modeling, so you can focus on growth.

Fundraising Support

Through our CFO and FP&A support, we help founders knock funraising out of the park.

“Graphite has been instrumental in building up the finance function at Caraway. They provided a ton of fundraising advice, helped us model out scenarios, and helped deeply on the accounting side.”

— Jordan Nathan, Founder & CEO of Caraway

FAQs

Why do most growing startups work with Graphite?

The main reasons startups choose to work with us are:

Our track record: We’ve helped countless startups grow from a few team members to hundreds of employees, and for many, we've scaled with them through their exits. 

In-House Feel: With other firms, you’ll likely get a team from a service center that is working with 15 or 20 clients at a time. We are the opposite side of the spectrum. We are your long-term partner, and the US-based team we allocate to you will only be working with a handful of clients at a time, so they can be high-touch, embedded in your business, and feel like an in-house team. 

Scalability: Hopping from accounting firm to accounting firm as you scale is not fun. That’s why startups prefer Graphite. We are a one-stop-shop. We handle everything (bookkeeping, operational accounting, CFO, FP&A, tax, etc.) and have yet to meet our match in terms of scale.

Robust Reporting: The clients that work with us receive some of the most insightful business reporting in the industry. Here is an example of our financial health dashboard that we set up for our clients. We help our operators keep a tight understanding of unit economics, growth and capital needs.

Top Talent: Our team members have worked with hundreds of startups, and have a wealth of knowledge about your specific industry.

For a quick quote, click here.

How much does it cost?

Our pricing structure is really simple and extremely fair...it has to be, as we focus on startups and growing companies. Because we are more of a long-term finance partner (which is what you want) compared to a short term “outsourced” bookkeeping firm, all of our engagements are custom.

Our engagements start at $1,250/mo (for select pre revenue companies) and grow from there based on a startups goals and needs.

For a quick quote, click here.

How do you handle the transition from our current firm to Graphite?

Most of our clients come to us from a sub par experience with another firm, so we are used to facilitating and managing transitions. Along with your direct Graphite team, every client is also staffed with an onboarding manager who will be the one to manage the transition so you don’t have to.

Who will be my point of contact?

Every client we work with is assigned a dedicated team, usually consisting of two to four team members. Of those team members, we will define a main point of contact. We love Slack, so if you use it, we can create a Slack instance and communicate there. We also will create an email alias so you can simply email one email address that will go to your entire Graphite team.

What is communication cadence like?

We are speaking with most of our clients on a regular basis. Some daily. Others have weekly or bi-weekly standing meetings. Think of it like this: However you would communicate with an internal finance team, that’s how we will communicate.

Do you provide tax filings as a stand alone service?

We do, yes! And we can quickly get you pricing. For a quick quote, click here.

When is the best time to start working with an accounting/finance firm like Graphite?

In reality, the second you start developing your product and spending money is when you need to start keeping clean books. There are always inflection points (for example a company raising money and investors needing them to provide clean financials, or a bank requiring GAAP compliant financials in order to provide a loan) where you don’t want to be scrambling to get those things together.

Yes, you need to have some sort of cash flow (investment dollars, working capital or revenue) to pay for a service like ours, but the earlier you do so, the more money you will save in the long run and the cleaner your books will be in order to fundraise and progress your business.

What does your financial modeling and FP&A service include?

Our financial planning & analysis (FP&A) support, aka Tier 2 in our service tiers, is a fully managed and always on FP&A service. On top of bookkeeping, we also handle building you a financial model and a financial health dashboard (demo here), and updating/maintaining that dashboard over time so we can provide you with full financial insights around your business. 

We can also offer you a Fractional CFO to help with things like fundraising, M&A, and driving strategic initiatives.

Contact us here to speak with one of our CFOs.

What stage company is the best fit for Graphite?

Graphite works (and scales) with startups anywhere from a few founders working on their idea all the way to a growing startup with 100s of employees. We have yet to meet our match in terms of a company too large!

Our sweet spot is well capitalized startups who have found product market fit.

How does your pricing compare to a full-time person?

For most startups, you don’t need 40 hrs/wk of work from an internal finance hire or team, especially when you first hire them. Fractional work, like Graphite, provides a much more efficient approach, as you are only paying for the exact effort you need at that moment in time. You also don’t pay us for benefits, downtime or vacations, so our cost tends to be much more efficient than hiring an internal team member.

Where is your team based?

Our hubs are in New York and Florida, but our team is fully remote across the US working in all time zones.

Do you handle sales tax?

Yes, we do handle sales tax! And we can quickly get you pricing. For a quick quote, click here.

How long do clients work with Graphite on average?

Most companies work with Graphite for long periods of time, as our service is extremely scalable and cost-efficient. There are “bandaid” accounting services that are more so quick fixes for short periods of time, and then there is Graphite...one of the few long term partners. Most of our clients work with us for years and years, and we take many through their exits, M&As, etc.

What are your security protocols?

We have an internal security team and take data security very seriously.

Do you help companies set up their software and tech stack?

Yes! We are a “tech-focused” firm and recommend/setup all different types of tools and softwares to our clients. We have standard tools that we prefer and will recommend, but we can also mold to softwares you are using and prefer as well.

Resources To Empower Startup Teams

RESOURCES

Free Financial Model Template

Our financial model templates are used by hundreds of successful founders.

Free Month-End Close Checklist

We’ve designed month-end close processes for some of the best startups in the game.

Free Chart of accounts Template

Our chart of accounts examples & templates for SaaS, eComm, and more!

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Our Leadership

Paul Bianco
Founder, CEO

Former VC @ ff Venture Capital, Investor in Plated and Distil Networks

Jocelyn Wilson
COO

15+ years of accounting & operations experience in both public accounting & private startups

Chris Mossa
Chief Strategy Officer

Former Founder & CEO at CPM Advisory, CFO at Advizr, Investor in multiple early-stage startups

Josh Leider
Head of Growth

Previous Co-Founder & CMO of MeditationWorks and TempoRun

Benjamin Friedman
Head of Customer Success

20+ years’ ops & finance experience with fast-growing companies, including five successful M&As

Sean

Sean Bies
Managing Director, Client Services

Experienced Controller working with eCommerce startups and fortune 500 companies

Sam Patel
Managing Director, Client Services

Accomplished Controller, 15+ years accounting experience

Heather

Heather Fipps
Managing Director

Experienced Controller with 16+ years in accounting leadership

Lisa C | Graphite - Startup Accounting Services

Michael Smith
Managing Director, Tax

30+ years of tax and accounting experience

Lisa C | Graphite - Startup Accounting Services

Heather Stein
Managing Director, Finance

20+ year accounting & finance experience providing business insight in growth environments

Donny Tyra
Director, Technical Accounting

Experienced CFO, 25+ years of accounting experience

Didier Jupillat
Director

Experienced CFO, 18+ years accounting & finance experience, MBA Wharton

Get In Touch

Locations: NYC HQ / Clients around the world

With team members across the country and clients worldwide, we cast a wide net.

GRAPHITE FINANCIAL | 228 PARK AVE S #85447 NEW YORK, NY 10003, UNITED STATES | HELLO@GRAPHITEFINANCIAL.COM
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